Closing the Fuel Tanks

August 15th, 17th & 23rd, 23h

First we started by verifying all the sealant inside the tanks. We swept each tank few times, filling any tightly hole we saw with sealant.

Then we went ahead with closing the tank, we put the baffle and z bars in with cleakos, then we went ahead filling all the holes with wet rivets. We used pop rivets for the center z bars and solid rivets for all the edges. Then we verified that the bottom internal corner stayed open, we put big blob of sealant in the outside corners, and we made sure that there is good fillets on all the edges.

Following, we put the closing lid and the fuel sander. Everything was set wet, including the screws.

After closing the tank, we waited a couple days, then we tested one of the tanks. I used the Vans testing kit to close the the fuel line, I attached a bike pump to the fuel drain, and I attached a ballon to vent line.

I pumped air in. Unfortunately there is a huge leak since the tank is not able to hold pressure. The leak is not from any of the seals we created, but from the Vans fuel tank cap/flange. The small seal in the fuel cap between the lid and the flange is not able to hold pressure So, we need to replace the fuel cap and maybe the flange.